


Read Me A Story

by Roshwen



Category: The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: Bedtime Stories, Fluff, Just the LITs being adorable with each other, Multi, Sweetness, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Warning for heavy use of Literature References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-29
Updated: 2017-11-29
Packaged: 2019-02-08 13:35:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12865608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roshwen/pseuds/Roshwen
Summary: It started out, as so many of their habits did, as a one off thing one late afternoon. The result? A sleepy Cassandra, shouting matches over Hogwarts Houses between Jake and Ezekiel and a lot of fluff.





	Read Me A Story

**Author's Note:**

> Technically, I skipped a day since in my timezone, it's already 30 November and the end of NaNo! But no worries, this doesn't count. Last NaNo story will be up tomorrow, in the meantime have some adorable LITs!

It started out, as so many of their habits did, as a one off thing one late afternoon. Cassandra had been restless all day, buzzed by a lack of cases, a lack of sleep and a surplus of coffee, a combination that was guaranteed to lead to a major headache in the next couple of hours. She had retreated to a reading nook in the Library, hoping that the dim lights and the quiet would help calm her down.

It did, but only up to a point. There was still a nagging ball of pressure building at the back of her skull and she was just debating whether she needed to break out the ibuprofen already when Jake found her, armed with a book and a smile in his eyes.

‘You havin’ trouble sleeping, Cassie?’ he asked, leaning against the bookshelf that formed the entrance to the reading nook. He looked so comfortable in the way he stood there, dressed in at least three layers of t-shirt and plaid and hoodie, his hair standing up in all directions the way it did when he had been studying all day and dragging his hands through it every other ten minutes, so that at the end of the day it looked more like a bird’s nest than anything else, that Cassandra wanted nothing more than to sink herself into him and _sleep._

She nodded. ‘Past two nights, no luck,’ she said. ‘Don’t know why. It just… happens sometimes.’

‘I know,’ Jake said, leaving the bookshelf and joining her on the couch. ‘But I might have something here that could help.’

‘You’re already helping,’ Cassandra muttered as she leaned into him, resting her head against his shoulder and shamelessly basking in the feeling of his arm coming up around her shoulders to hold her close. It was true: the feeling of soft cotton under her cheek, the scent of old books and mint and the comforting rhythm of his heartbeat thrumming in her ear was incredibly relaxing. If she could just stay here for the next hour or so, she might be able to finally get some sleep tonight.

Jake laughed, nuzzling a kiss into her hair. ‘I could help some more,’ he said. ‘You want to hear a bedtime story? My ma always used to read to us when we couldn’t sleep, put us right under every time.’

Cassandra could imagine. Jake’s voice was wrapping around her like a blanket, heavy and warm and she nestled herself a little bit closer to his chest. ‘I’d like that,’ she said, smiling at the way he dropped another kiss on to her head before he opened the book and started to read: _In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort._

Cassandra was out like a light before the first dwarf knocked on Bilbo’s door.

\---

But that was only the start of it. Because a couple of days later, Cassandra came up to Jake with a shy smile and a pleading look in those big blue eyes and at the end of that afternoon, the two of them found themselves in the same reading nook again. (Honestly, Jake was like putty when Cassandra turned on the puppy dog eyes. It was embarrassing).

This time, Cassandra did not fall asleep. Instead she tried _very_ hard not to shiver as Jake, who apparently decided to go all out, started to sing the dwarves’ songs instead of just reading them, using the melody from the movies.

‘You liked that, didn’t you?’ Jake asked with a grin, after they had made it through the rest of the first chapter and the second for good measure as well.

Cassandra looked up from where she was buried in the blanket that had _not_ been there last time (thank you, Ray). The grin on her face as she buried her fingers in his hair and dragged him down for a kiss was more than enough of an answer.

\---

Of course, it was only a matter of time before Ezekiel got wind of things. And Ezekiel might have been proud and a big boy and perfectly able to take care of himself, but. If Cassandra was having cuddle time and private reading sessions with Jake, then Ezekiel wanted in. If they’d let him.

That is how, when Cassandra and Jake went into the Library to follow Bilbo into the mountains and the lair of the Great Goblin, they found the way barred by a certain young Australian thief who, for once very politely and quietly asked if he could join them.

Jake grumbled a little because of course he did, but not as much as Ezekiel expected he would. So they made themselves comfortable on the couch, Jake in the middle and Cassandra and Ezekiel snuggled up against him. Both of them were wrapped up in their own blanket, which was odd. Because Jake would have _sworn_ there had been only one blanket in the reading nook just the day before.

Then again, some things are just to be expected when you’re in a sentient building that likes to take care of its people. So Jake shook his head, tried not to smile too fondly at the two blanket burritos next to him and started reading about paths that went over hill and under hill.

\---

And so it became a ritual. They didn’t do this every day; after all, there was still work to do. History to be studied, science to do, shady government organizations to hack.

A world to save every week. Twice before Friday.

But after they’d saved the world. When they needed to leave history to the past for a bit, or when the science was done for the day and the shady government organizations had given up all their secrets for the moment, then they went to the reading nook, where Jake fetched the book and Cassandra fetched the blankets.

(Along with the blankets, more things started to turn up in that specific nook. Such as a kettle, three mugs and an assortment of tea bags and instant chocolate milk, Cassandra’s favorite chocolate chip cookies and Ezekiel’s favorite type of potato chips, along with a couple of cold beers for Jake. _Thank you,_ Ray).

It took them three months to finish the Hobbit like this. After Jake had read the last sentence, there was a moment of grave silence as they all felt as if something very special had finally come to an end.

Then Jake slowly closed the book and said: ‘You know, I’m not gonna read you the Lord of the Rings, ‘cause that’s gonna take way too damn long. But if you have any other suggestions?’

As a matter of fact, Cassandra and Ezekiel did.

\---

A week later, Ezekiel not-so-subtly sidled up to Jake to drop the first Harry Potter book on to his desk. This was not a universal success.

On one hand, it turned out Cassandra had never read Harry Potter, which was all the reason Jake needed to drag them both into the Library at once to rectify the situation.

On the other hand, it turned out that Ezekiel had _opinions_ on Harry Potter. _Very strong_ opinions.

For instance, Jake was with Harry and thought Dumbledore was the epitome of a good and kind grandfather figure. Ezekiel, not so much.

Jake proudly put himself in Gryffindor. Along with Eve and Jenkins, while Flynn and Cassandra got Ravenclaw and Ezekiel got sorted into Hufflepuff. Cassandra wasn’t sure if that last sorting was _meant_ to make Ezekiel explode like that, but the resulting shouting match even brought Eve running into the Library, fully prepared to de-escalate a crisis of truly nuclear proportions.

Because _of course_ Jake wasn’t a Gryffindor, he was a bloody _Ravenclaw_ mate, you really don’t know yourself? And yeah, Eve might be a Gryffindor and Flynn might be a Ravenclaw, cowboy got that right at least, but Jenkins was _obviously_ a Hufflepuff. And as for Cassandra? _Slytherin,_ just like Ezekiel himself.

When Cassandra looked a little worried at that, because hadn’t Jake just told them that Slytherins were the ones that were bad and evil, Ezekiel stopped shouting at Jake for a second to reassure her. ‘It just means you don’t take any shit, Cass,’ he said. ‘You’re ambitious and you make sure to get what you want. Besides, you look _amazing_ in green.’

That last part was said with a grin that did more to evaporate the tension in the air than all of Eve’s stern lecturing to _just sit down and read your damn book like normal people._

They still made a deal after that: no commenting while Jake was reading. That way, they managed the rest of the book without any more heated discussions, although Jake sometimes had to pretend _very_ hard not to hear Ezekiel’s muttering when Harry went on about his love for Dumbledore.

Jake also read them the second and third Harry Potter book, but drew a line at the fourth. ‘It’s gonna take me too long,’ he said again when Ezekiel made a disappointed noise. ‘You can read those for yourselves. And anyway, it’s Cassie’s turn to pick now.’

\---

When Cassandra suggested The Fault in Our Stars, however, because she thought she might relate to the story, Jake was adamant. ‘No. No way. I’m not reading that.’

‘Jake, honestly,’ Cassandra said, _not_ pouting because grown girls didn’t pout. ‘I’m a big girl. I can take a sad story.’

‘I know, darling,’ Jake said with a soft look in his eyes. ‘I know you can take it. But I’m not so sure about me and Jones.’

Oh.

It took a long moment before Cassandra found her voice again. ‘I’ll think of something else,’ she said softly.

A few days later, Jake found a copy of _Persuasion_ on his desk, with a note on top that read: _How about this one?_

As far as Jake and Ezekiel were concerned, Regency romance was eminently preferable over sad teenagers dying of cancer. Even if Ezekiel rolled his eyes a little at the mushy bits.

\---

After Jane Austen, it was Jake’s turn to choose a book again. This time, he went for Terry Pratchett’s _Wee Free Men,_ which was not only an awesome story but also meant he could put on a truly _atrocious_ Scottish accent. Ezekiel, speaking on behalf of all citizens of the British Commonwealth, immediately banned Jake from _ever_ entering the United Kingdom _ever_ again, while Cassandra started laughing so hard she rolled off the couch and on to the floor, blanket and all.

Terry Pratchett was followed by Ezekiel’s next pick, which was _Artemis Fowl._ This did not surprise Jake or Cassandra in the least, although Jake did give Ezekiel a stern look and a warning _not_ to take the book as some kind of inspiration before he started reading.

Cassandra then asked Jake if he would read _Sherlock Holmes._ ‘Not everything,’ she said before he could start complaining about the length again. ‘Just… a couple of stories?’

Jake read them _A Study in Scarlet._ And _The Hound of the Baskervilles._ And _The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes._

He stopped before they got to the stories about Moriarty, though.

\---

There was one thing that Jake did not tell Cassandra and Ezekiel about all of this. It was a secret he would carry with him to the grave and he was honestly praying that they never found out. Not that there was any reason they would, because Jake was the only one who knew.

And he was not going to tell them that his ma never read him a bedtime story in her life. But hey, if it took a tiny white lie to have Cassandra curled up on one side of him and Ezekiel playing baby koala on his other side, both warm and boneless and safe against him, well.

Frankly, Jake did not give a damn.


End file.
